Method of making spherical articles



Sept. 25, 1923. 1,469,174

' J. R. BLAKESLEE METHOD OF MAKING SPHERIGAL ARTICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet z Filed Nov. 25, 1 1

FTC: -10

from other inventions."

Patented se as, 1923,,

JOHN B. :eLAKn's'LEnor onnvnnenn, onto;

riaiea METHOD or MAKING srnnarcst ARTICLES.

Application filed November 2 5, 1816. Serial No. 133,3e9.

To allwhomtimer/concern.; Be it known that I, JOHN RlBn-innsnnn,

a citizen of the Jnited States, and a resident of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and btate of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful lmprovement lin 'Method o1 Making Spherical Articles, of which the following is. a specification, the-principle of the invention being herein explained-and the best, mode in which I have contemplated apply ing that principle, so as to distinguish it The present invention, relating as indicatedto spherical; articles and the method for making. the same, has more particular regard to ball bearings a-nd their manufacture asw'ell astothe manufacture of other articles having, a spherical or approximately spherical part, such forexample', as connects; in'g rods and simllarartlcles. One ob ect ot the invention is to provide "a methodot' making such articles which shall be. less expensive than the. present, methods and which shallproduce articles of the same or greater strength and wearing'qualitie's. To the accomplishrnentot the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the 'mode hereinafter tully'described and particularly pointed out in the claimsl V The annexed drawing and the following description set forth in detail certain means and one mode of carrying out the-invention, such disclosed means and mode illustrating,

' however, but one of various ways in which showiny' the plates at the close'ot the form-- the principle of'the invention maybe used.

, In said annexed drawings:

Figure 1 1s a side elevation showlng one approved means for carrying out the pres-V ent invention in the form of two co-opera-- tive plates in their initial or starting position; Figure 2 is a similaryiew, but'showing these plates at the middleottheir stroke or-movement; Figure 3 is a similar view in; operation; F igure V4 is a planview of the plates shown at the right in Figure 4 1; Figure 5 is a section on-theline 5-5 inFigure 4 Figure 6 1s a section on the line 66, F1gure1; Figure 7 is a section on the line 77 in Figure 2; Figure is a section on the line '8-8 in Figure 3;F1gu1e 9 is aside elevation of the bar or billet which is to -be formed; Figure 10 is'a side elevation of the product after leaving the rolls, and Figure 11' is a side elevation of a connecting rod produced, by the present method.

7 In Figure 1 there'are shown two co-operative plates 1 and 2. 'lhecconstructlon of thesetwo plates, which are adapted to the formation of spherical objects and similar articles,such as are shown inFig'ures l0 and 11, is best-shown in Figures-1 and 5, from which it will'beseen that eachplate is pro vided with a plurality ot'spaced-parallel and gradually deepening semi-spherical grooves 3. Infwill be understood that theseiplates are constructed to form the articles'ot' Figure 1O andbut slight modifications will be necessary toadapt them to the-formation of other articles; At its left end the plate 2 is flat, asat 4,.andthe grooves 3 begin a short distance from this edgeandgradually deepen asthey approach thezr-ight'end of the plate, where they are substantially senn-spherlcal a 75 in cross section, as shown in Figure '8.

(lo-operating with the roll '2 is anupper plate 1, which is provided with an equal number of similarly arranged, and similarly inclined grooves 5, and is also'provided with a flat portion 6 at its right end. The lower plate is provided with two lateral flanges or guiderails'i, within which are received depending portions 8 on the upper plate 1 which serves to maintainthesetwo plates in proper alignment during their operation. The upper plate 1 both rests upon and 1s guided bythe upwardly extending flanges 7 of the plate- 2, as may be seen in Figures 6, p

i7 and 8. Theinitialjposition or the plates is shown in Figure land insuch position a cylindrical bar or billet 9 is placed between the parallel flat portions 4 and 6 on the plates 2 and lrespectively. The plate 1 isthen moved across the roll 2, being main tained in parallelism therewith during such movement by means or the" guides 7. The billet 9 is thus forced into the gradually deepening; grooves 3 and5 on the two plates "L spherical portions 11. It willbe obviousif other shapes than spherical are desired in the finished article the grooves or recesses 1n the plates can be formed accordingly and various other shapes can thus be produced.

As the movement of the plate 1 ls'continued the "formation of the spherical ob-' jects continues until When-the plate 1 has been moved into the'position shown in Fig ure 3 with respect to the plate 2, a series ofperfectly formed but connected balls 12 are produced, as shown in Figure 10. The next step in my process involvesfthe severing of: the connections between the-spherical articles 12 as shown in Figure 10, and these articles may then be finished toexact size.

The billet or bar 9 will of course be heated to a suitable temperature beforebeing rolled and this temperature Will of course vary under different conditions and can readily be determined by anyone skilled in the rolling art. It has been found thatballs for ball bearings produced in this Way are very much cheaper to manufacture than by'the present method of forging them individ- V ually and then grindingthese torgin'gs.

' I haveflnot shown any of the operating mechanism for the plates land 2, as obs vio'usly any suitable means maybe employed for this purpose. Similarly l have not shown all of thefarticles that can be pro- 7 duced by the present method, although in v Figure 11 I have illustratedroughly a con necting rod, which has been rolled in this Way, and of course other articles having SPllQYlCEIl or' evenrother. shaped parts can be produced in this way a considerable saving in expense over their production by drop forging or'other methods. 7

Other tormsimaybe employed embody-- ing the features of my invention instead of the one here explained, changevbeing made in the form of construction, provided the elements stated by the following claims or the equivalent of such statedelementsbe employed, whether produced by my preferred method or by others embodying steps equiva- Y lent to those stated inthe followin claims.

11 therefore particularly point out" and dis 7 tinctlycl'aiin as my invention 1." In a method o'f'making spherical objects,

the step which consists 'in'rolling" a billet transversely to form spherical portions and to} force the metal'of said billet connecting said portions into such portions While-main-l taining substantially the original diameter ot-the billet.

2. In amethod otnahing spherical objects,

the steps Which consist in rolling a billet transversely, applying equal pressures there-' to; at spaced transverse planes and'along diverging transversejlines', and gradually in creasing such "pressures to" force; the metal ameter of the bil-let.-'

Signed by me,- this 20th day of November,

19-16.. a 7 r r JOHN R. BLAKESLEE. 

